REVIEW: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

 
Title: The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1)

Author: Kimberly Derting
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery. 
Publication Date: February 15^th 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Format: Paperback

Pages: 328

Rating: 5/5
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 A gripping tale of a girl with a morbid ability that could lead her to a killer . . . and the boy who would never let anything happen to her.

Sixteen-year-old Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her unusual so-called gift. While her confusing feelings for her best friend are new, she has been able to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered—and the imprints that attach to their killers since she was a little girl. Violet has never considered her ability useful, but now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Fiercely protective of her, Jay agrees to help Violet search for the murderer. But even as she's falling in love, Violet is getting closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

Before I even actually picked up this book, I had some ideas about how I would feel about this book. I really didn’t have high expectations for it- I don’t really understand why, but I didn’t. But as you can see by my rating, it definitely exceeded those expectations. In fact, it was so different to what I thought it would be. I suppose that I kind of thought there would be similarities between this series and the Need series by Carrie Jones (which I’m not exactly the biggest fan of). Again- I’m not entirely sure why because they are about completely different things. Though I had this in mind, I still decided to give at least the first book a chance- and well, I’m glad I did.

The main character, Violet, seemed kind of like one of those characters who would really get on your nerves- the usual annoying type that you end up hating by the end of the book. However, I actually found that I really like Violet- I didn’t find her annoying but instead I found that I could relate to her. I thought that many of the things she did, or said or felt were very realistic, but I liked that her ‘gift’ create that little bit of difference. I also really like how she handled her ‘gift’, I think how Derting allowed Violet to dislike her gift but still be willing to use it for good, even if it got her in trouble, was amazing. In addition to that, I thought the descriptions of the echoes and Violet’s feelings were fantastic- they were creepy and mysterious, but they also bought along this sadness with each of the victims.

I liked the other characters. Jay, especially. Oh, how to describe the wonderfulness that is Jay Heaton? He’s a really sweet character and so genuine- I think he’s also very realistic. I like how he respects and supports Violet even when some of her ideas end with her in a bit of trouble. He’s also protective of her, but not crazy you-can’t-do-anything-without-me protective.

Finally, I want to talk about the plot. Now, this- this is where stuff gets real good. Who doesn’t love a good serial killer story? I think this one is especially creepy because you get a sort of insight into the killer’s mind but you still have absolutely no idea who the actual killer is. One of my favourite things about the plot, without giving too much away, is that it seems so obvious who the killer is and then suddenly, there’s a nice little plot twist that just blows your mind.

So even if you have doubts, like I did, I’d still suggest that you read The Body Finder and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised like I was.